


Sudden Flowers

by quantumoddity



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: D&D Backstory, Druids, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining, Sharing a Bed, Tieflings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-05-30 14:32:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15098663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quantumoddity/pseuds/quantumoddity
Summary: Sharing a room at an inn. Thought there was going to be two beds. There's only one.You guys know the drill.





	Sudden Flowers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MinkyForShort](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MinkyForShort/gifts).



She’d had such high hopes. 

Though no, not high hopes. The expectation of a bed with an actual mattress and a frame, hopefully stuffed with down though straw would suffice instead of the bare ground, a room with a window to let the morning sun gradually filter through rather than hitting her full in the face like an insistent slap, a bowl of warm water to wash her face in or maybe even a bath, as opposed to spending a few minutes sucking in her breath and marshalling her courage before jumping into an ice cold river in order to start the day not smelling like a barn. Those weren’t exactly unimaginable luxuries, when Eliza thought about it. 

Though travelling and adventuring had really adjusted her perspective on life, in many different ways. 

 

The room did look ridiculously cosy and inviting after so long on the road that she’d actually lost count of how many nights she’d spent sleeping under the stars, which had sounded romantic back when she’d come of age and realised she found her life in their father’s manor house stifling. When she’d been dragging her feet through the endless social engagements expected of a high lords daughter but had never seemed to be expecting someone quite like her and considered her a disappointment, leaving her leaping at the chance to go travelling with her sisters. But Eliza had realised that often ‘stars’ meant thick clouds or incessant, chilly drizzle or the boughs of a tree that would be resolutely dripping on her all night long. 

But this room had a small candle flickering on a bedside table, warm and welcoming, the honey gold light thrown around the room like arms spread wide ready to receive them, showing beams overhead like they were in some kind of converted barn, a flagon of water, a window with the drapes cinched tight against the night outside. There was a sheaf of paper and a quill on the desk to write a letter to their parents, a sight which soothed Eliza’s mind as much as the aches in her legs, she was certain they’d be nervous after so long without word of how their journey was going. 

There was also a bed. It looked like the kind of bed that would swallow you as soon as you rolled into it, in the best kind of way so that you didn’t need to think of anything but the fresh smell of washed linens and soft pillows and warmth enveloping you until the sun came up. 

However, there was only one. And Alex was currently sat on it, looking up at Eliza with an expression that couldn’t decide if it wanted to be belligerence or apologeticness and was making a poor imitation of both. 

Eliza dropped her pack and closed the door behind her with a short, sharp sigh of resignation, “There’s no use looking at me like that. You know this wasn’t my idea either.” 

“I’m not looking at you like any kind of way,” the tiefling retorted, though there was a bitter edge to his voice, “It’s no big deal. I’ll sleep on the floor.”

Eliza frowned, shaking her head, “Alex, come on, that’s crazy. We can share a bed for one night, it’s big enough for two. You’ve been sleeping on the ground as long as I have.”

She hoped her voice was steady and certain as she wanted it to be, so maybe she’d be able to convince him that she really didn’t see sharing such close quarters with him as a huge deal. When maybe she did...just a little. Though not for the reasons she was sure he was thinking.

It really hadn’t been either of their decisions. An unplanned trip into a particularly stagnant and murky pond a few days ago had left Peggy with a pox of red, raised spots on her skin. Angelica had had it years ago, when she was much younger so she was immune which was a relief given that she had the most healing skill out of any of them. Alex and Eliza were at risk though and had been banished to the bed he was supposed to be sleeping in alone, definitely alone, definitely not with his party mate that he didn’t honestly get off on the best foot with. Or had been finding the right foot with since. They were still kind of looking for the right foot. And Eliza didn’t think they were going to find it while they were going to be crammed together in the same bed, comfortably big but certainly not big enough that they weren’t going to have to touch at some point. 

And weird things had been happening whenever Alex and Eliza touched recently. She’d been trying to ignore it or pretend she didn’t notice that flowers bloomed between her fingers whenever she saw Alex just after he’d woken up and Peggy had kicked him out of his bedroll, when his hair was sticking up around his horns and his eyes were bright and no shirt to cover his muscles or tattoos. Or when she’d be cooking at the fire and he’d come and drop down by her wherever she sat to give her some herbs he’d found, so much so that his arm pressed against her, when he’d wander away Eliza would find some daisies creeping their way pointedly up her shoulder. 

Whenever her powers showed themselves unconsciously, it was in response to a strong surge of emotion, something Eliza knew in the back of her mind but was trying very,very hard not to focus on. 

Because having any kind of strong surge of emotion in response to a young rouge who’d first made his acquaintance with the sisters by trying to collect them for a bounty, who was very cagy about the kind of work he’d been involved in before he met them, who had such dark, beautiful eyes and a wicked smile that revealed his pointed teeth and a little of the vulnerability that lived behind it...it would be a very bad idea.

Alex brought her out of that dangerous line of thinking with a short, sharp huff of a sigh, “I don’t think there is a way for this not to be awkward, huh, Princess?”

Eliza rolled her eyes at the nickname he’d adopted for her that had started as a poisonous jab the first time he’d used it (though in fairness to him, she had been hoisting him upside down with vines) but had slowly softened over their travels into more of an inside joke. He’d use it, she’d aim a kick at his shins that never really intended to land and point out that technically she was the daughter of a high lord and deserved only the title ‘lady’ at best though that had always made her wrinkle her nose right from when she was five years old.  

“No, I don’t think there is,” Eliza shrugged, scuffing the edge of her boot against the rug, “So how about we just take a deep breath, handle this like adults and then never talk about it again after tonight? Because, honestly, I just want to sleep right now.”

“I always handle stuff like an adult,” Alex muttered, though he did get up and relinquish the bed, going over to the opposite end of the room, “I need to change. No peeking.” 

Eliza snorted, turning her back just as he did so they were eye to eye with opposite walls, “Long as you return the favour.” 

“Um, I am a gentleman? So that should really go without saying?” Alex’s voice was jokingly indignant and Eliza could hear the whisper of clothes against skin and the gentle breath of it being dropped to the floor. She marshalled her thoughts determinedly before any could wander in worrying directions and focused on her own dress. 

“I can’t believe you just managed to say that with a straight face,” she shot back to distract herself. 

She heard Alex gasp and could almost see with perfect clarity the look of shock and horror he’d have on his face, “Schuyler, I am aghast. You hear me? Aghast.” 

Eliza couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled up in her throat as she pulled her sleep shift out of her pack, “Alex, I don’t think true gentlemen hide live frogs in people’s bedrolls when they aren’t looking.” 

“You deserved that and you know it,” there was a crooked smile in his voice, the one Eliza was growing very familiar with, “Don’t think I don’t know it was you who stuck all those briars to my tail.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about, Alex,” Eliza smiled to herself, thinking about how incredibly funny it had been to sit back and watch Alex try to charm several townspeople for information, all while completely oblivious to the many feathery, white seeds stuck to his tail. It had kind of diminished his roguish attitude somewhat. 

She was lost in the fond memory which was maybe why she didn’t think her next action all the way through as she carelessly turned and was granted a sudden, startling eyeful of Alex, across the room, edged in golden candlelight that bronzed his dark blue skin, entirely naked aside from a very, very small and very, very tight pair of shorts. Fortunately, he was occupied with his shirt and didn’t notice and Eliza managed to dive for the bed and pull the sheets up over her head before he saw the alarming shade of red her cheeks had taken on. Alex merely shot her a puzzled look before shrugging, dressing and blowing out the candle, allowing the room to be swallowed entirely by the night. 

 

It was awkward as it promised to be for a few, stilted moments but after that, both Alex and Eliza found themselves letting go of the tension in their muscles. Part of it was the exhaustion and the welcome embrace of an actual bed, though part of it was simply the fact that lying there with the slow, steady breathing and warmth of another person right by them was incredibly comforting. Even if their relationship with that person was complicated, for want of a better word. 

Eliza must have drifted off before too long because the next thing she was aware of was her eyes flickering open without focus, a shock running through her as her body was tipped from sleep. Time must have passed, the shadows were different and there was a new sound, one that took her awhile to place with her thoughts coming slow and sluggish. Thunder. Rain hitting the windows with some force. A storm. 

She sat up a little, curious. Memories already arose from the sleepy fog of her mind, of sitting on the window seat in the room she shared with her sisters, their gentle snores just behind her and reminding her she was not alone, watching a storm tear the night apart just on the other side of the glass. Those nights were always precious to her. She could never quite say why but they always felt like they were from another time. 

It was only then that Eliza realised Alex was awake too. His shallow, rapid breathing caught her attention, immediately sounding panicked and precarious. She turned to find him lying rigid and stiff, eyes wide and glowing white in the gloom though he didn’t seem to even notice her, like something else entirely had it’s claws in him. In every fight she’d been in by his side, Eliza had never seen him look so terrified. 

“Alex?” she blinked, startled, reaching for his shoulder and giving it a little shake, overwhelmed with the need to do something, anything, to help him, “Hey? It’s okay, its me, it’s Eliza…”

Another loud bark of thunder broke overhead, directly overhead, and Alex jerked suddenly, claws fully extended and biting into the headboard with a dull, splintered thunk like he was expecting whatever monster was clearly looming and roaring over them to seize the whole inn and shake it from side to side. He moaned thinly, a small child’s sound of fear. 

Eliza acted purely on impulse, only understanding that Alex was upset, the storm was the cause and she had to do something. In one smooth motion, she covered the two of them with the blanket, pulling it down to muffle the noise of the rain and the wind like the woven wool could act as some kind of shield. She wondered why on earth she’d thought such a ridiculous thing, though only for an instant, for after that, Alex distinctly calmed, pulling himself into a tight little ball so every inch was under the protection she’d offered. More than that, Eliza was surprised to find his arms, warm and strong but with a note of desperation, winding around her, becoming his anchor. She considered being shocked, being disarmed, being awkward but all those thoughts she swept away with a careless arm as she held Alex in return. 

“It’s just a storm, Alex,” she whispered into the darkness, feeling him still trembling against her, “It’ll pass. It can’t hurt you, not here.”

She wasn’t expecting him to reply, she wasn’t even sure if she was fully awake or if this was just some kind of waking nightmare for him. But he did, in a voice that sounded so small and so shaky, she couldn’t believe it came from the confident, crookedly smiling tiefling she knew. 

“Promise?” 

Eliza found her hands moving up to the tangled mop of his hair, usually so neat but flustered by his tossing and turning in the blankets. She combed her fingers through it, slowly, soothingly, giving him some real sensation to cling to and remind him where he was, “I promise, Alex. You’re safe.”

“I...I don’t like storms…” he muttered by way of explanation.

Eliza shook her head, still stroking his hair, a smile growing on her face, “It’s okay. Just get through it and then never talk about it again, remember?” 

Alex managed a thin laugh but it was more like himself and Eliza was relieved to hear it. The storm did pass on, eventually, though neither Alex nor Eliza noticed. Sleep found them again, still in each other’s arms. 

And if either of them noticed the small carpet of tiny, white flowers that had appeared around the legs of the bed by the morning, true to their word, neither of them mentioned it. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I have a ko-fi if you really love what I do and want to say thanks! Or leave a comment which always makes me smile :)


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